


A Moment's Notice

by rottweilersatemylaptop (silvergrrrl)



Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Post-Movie, Post-The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, Veronica Mars Holiday Gift Exchange 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-06 21:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3149483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvergrrrl/pseuds/rottweilersatemylaptop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes things change at a moment's notice. Sometimes it's a good thing.</p><p>Written for the Veronica Mars Holiday Gift Exchange 2014 for disdainfullady.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Moment's Notice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [disdainfullady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/disdainfullady/gifts).



The dog days of summer had arrived early this year. The thick haze from the Fourth of July fireworks and BBQs had barely dissipated before an almost-visible wave of heat and humidity rolled in to take its place. The uncomfortably hot weather was still going strong almost a week later. Veronica had intended to spend a lazy Sunday morning sleeping in. She knew if she didn’t go now, though, the heat would soon make it impossible to get out for a run. The heavy workload at Mars Investigations after the holiday weekend had meant skimping on exercise and living on fast food all week. So she was determined to take at least a little time for herself before things started all over again on Monday.

She called out toward Keith’s bedroom as she opened the front door. “I’m heading out for a run, Dad. I’ll be back in a little bit.” She didn’t wait for an answer.

As Veronica jogged through the neighborhood, passing a few other runners and dog walkers who were trying to beat the heat, her thoughts turned toward the days ahead and to one event in particular. Logan would be home in ten days.

_Why are these last few days seeming to last almost as long as the years we were apart? So close, so close and yet so far. Ugh. When did I turn into such a girl? Worse yet, one that quotes ‘70s songs in her head?_

Cutting her run a little shorter than normal, Veronica returned home. As she entered the house, she frowned slightly at the lack of Sunday morning breakfast smells. “Dad? No bacon today?” She headed toward Keith’s bedroom, and found the door open and the bed made up neatly. She returned to the kitchen and found a note on the counter in her father’s neat handwriting.

_Taking a short road trip—got a lead on one of our missing persons. Sorry to ruin your Sunday, but I need you to take care of some things at the office._

Veronica’s brow furrowed as she read the note and the short to-do list that followed. “They called on Sunday morning to move the meeting up? Seriously?” she said to herself. She wasn’t surprised to hear the phone ring.

“So. Dad. Who’s the missing person that’s important enough to make you skip out on Sunday breakfast with your only daughter?”

Keith laughed. “Sorry, sweetheart. And even sorrier for making you give up your day off.”

“Partners, right? We’re in this together, old man, so whatever it takes. Are you sure you’re cleared for a road trip? Or do I have to send armed paramedics to bring you back?”

“Let them try to catch me. Seriously, though, it’s fine. I’m only going to San Diego and it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be running into foul play of any kind.”

Another voice rumbled faintly in the background. “Ha! The only kind of foul you… owwww…”

“Dad? Where are you again? And who was that?”

“What? No one, honey. Just the radio. This is just a short, easy trip to San Diego. I’ve even asked Leo D’Amato to have someone available in case I do need help.”

“Okay, then. I guess we can’t keep you locked up in the office forever. Just remember, you can make all the demands on my time you want this week. But make sure my schedule is completely clear for next Wednesday.”

“Oh, we all know better than to mess with that day. Have you heard from Logan lately, by the way?”

“No, but he’d already said he might not be able to contact me this week.” She sighed. “I shouldn’t make myself crazy about it. It’s only ten days, right?”

“So maybe it’s a good thing that I found something to keep you busy today. You won’t have time to think too much.”

“You might be right about that. So what’s going on? The Kostan Industries people are already calling you on a Sunday to reschedule a meeting, and they’re not even a client yet. They want to meet tomorrow instead of Wednesday?”

“If they’ll sign a three-year contract for our services across all of their Balboa County and Orange County locations, a few Sunday phone calls is a small price to pay.”

“True, that. So what do I need to get done today?”

Forty-five minutes later, Veronica headed out the door again. She’d gotten the complete low-down from Keith on the day’s tasks, taken a quick shower, and dressed to beat the heat. She wouldn’t normally wear shorts and a tank top to the office, but it wasn’t like an actual workday. Only one client would be coming by—Mrs. Quan wanted to talk about background checks on her potential new tenants. Aside from the extreme heat, it was a blue skies, picture perfect, top down, sunny southern California day. Veronica found herself enjoying the short drive to the office. She parked in front of the red brick loft building, patted the steering wheel of Logan’s midnight blue BMW convertible and said, “It’s going to be hard to give you up in just a few more days.”

_I’m talking to cars now? Guess the heat is getting to me after all._

Sven the landlord turned up the thermostat on the weekends since no one was usually in the offices then. The office was warm and stuffy, and Veronica was glad she’d decided to dress for comfort, since she had several hours of work in front of her. It took just a few minutes to position a couple of desk fans for maximum air circulation and minimum paperwork disturbance. Veronica had made a list while talking to Keith, and she scanned it now, picking out the things that needed computer expertise before dialing the phone.

Mac answered right away. “Did I lose a day somewhere? Isn’t it Sunday? Or is this purely a social call?”

“Good morning to you, too, Q! Could I convince you that it’s Monday and that you’re supposed to be here at the office?”

“Hmm. I was kind of hoping for the social call. Wait—there’s not any kind of trouble, is there?”

“Oh, no, Mac. I didn’t mean to worry you! Just some very last minute notice on changes for this week.” Veronica quickly filled in Mac on the things they would need to rearrange to accommodate the Kostan Industries meeting date change.

“Easy peasy—at least my part of it should be. As much as I’d like to join you at the office, as long as there’s not a crisis, I’ve kind of committed to some family togetherness today.”

“Family togetherness, huh? I’m thinking it’s more like you heard about the lack of air conditioning.”

“Well, there’s that, too. The good news is that if you can just email me a couple of files, no trouble to get this all done from home by tonight.”

“That sounds great, Mac. Thanks so much and sorry for stealing your Sunday away.”

“That’s okay—this is so much better than those days in the spring when we’d wonder if anyone was going to walk through that door. I’m ready for those files—you ready to send?”

Veronica sent the requested files and quickly confirmed that Mac had received them. “We’re good to go,” said Mac. “I shouldn’t need anything else, so I’ll just see you on Wednesday.”

“Wednesday? Are you out of the office tomorrow and no one told me yet?” asked Veronica.

“Oh! No! I mean Monday of course. Heh, guess the holiday still had me thrown off.”

“Or maybe the heat has gotten to you, too?”

“That must be it. Talk to you later, Bond.”

“Take care and thanks again, Q.”

Veronica smiled and shook her head as she hung up the phone.

_Is it my imagination or did Mac seem just a little too flustered there? The heat is definitely getting to me._

Now that she’d taken care of delegating the technology wizard tasks to Mac, she jumped right into the rest of the preparations for Monday’s meeting. Keith’s notes were neat and well organized. With no interruptions from phone calls or walk-ins, it wasn’t nearly as hard to construct a polished presentation as Veronica had feared.

She pulled the last few corrected pages off the color copier, walked over to Mac’s desk, and spread the pages out for a final look. Veronica had every confidence that their team compared favorably in experience and skill to any of the other investigators up for the job. She sat down to write a note on a Post-It to stick between the pages to show Mac where her section should go, leaned back in the chair, and looked at the clock. She’d successfully completed the day’s work, but there was still some time to kill before her visitor would be at the door.

Veronica’s thoughts drifted, as thoughts sometimes do, to the times that Logan had been the one at the door. At the old offices of Mars Investigations, at Java the Hut, at the Hearst College library. At her family’s home just outside the ‘09 zip code, at the apartment at Sunset Cliffs, at Keith’s bungalow. When they were lovers, when they were friends, when they weren’t. And as she heard footsteps in the hall, she thought how wonderful it would be if he were the one coming through the door right now.

Well. Maybe not this door. And it wouldn’t be Logan, not today.

Except it was.

Logan. In that effity white uniform coming through the doors of Mars Investigations, in answer to her drifting thoughts. Looking at her like she was the best thing he’d set eyes on in a hundred and eighty days. Well. Almost a hundred and eighty days. “Hey.”

Veronica stood up, eyes wide. “Logan? But how… when… what… Wednesday…” and then she was out from behind Mac’s desk, launching herself into his arms. And Logan was right there to catch her as he always was. Planting a soft kiss on her forehead and one on her lips, he said, “Let me write this down in my calendar as the day I made Veronica Mars speechless.”

“I don’t really need the power of speech to welcome you home properly,” said Veronica, as she eagerly returned his kisses. “And… OH!”

She pushed away slightly from Logan’s embrace. “That proper welcome is going to have to wait for a bit. A client is coming by the office soon to drop off some paperwork.”

Logan laughed and pulled her back tightly into his arms. “About that paperwork? Mrs. Quan isn’t actually coming by until tomorrow.”

Veronica narrowed her eyes and looked up at him. “Wait a minute. There is no way you could have known who was coming by. Unless you…”

“Do you really want to play investigator right now? Wouldn’t you rather play…”

She cut him off with a kiss—one that was filled with almost a hundred and eighty days of love and longing. “Welcome home, Lieutenant.” And then he was lifting her up, spinning her around, and pressing her up against the inner office doors. Returning each other’s touches in the ways they’d missed for six long months, bringing each other higher and higher and tumbling over the edge together into ecstasy.

Afterwards, as they lay tangled up together on the couch, Veronica finally got back to investigating the latest mystery.

“Now that you’ve been properly welcomed, I think it’s time for the whole truth. You might as well tell me now. You know I’ll get it out of you no matter what.”

Logan chuckled. “Well, it was easy enough to get a little help from your best girlfriend and my former GradeMyAss.com business partner. What I didn’t expect was the help from your dad.”

“You talked to my dad to plan this? Maybe this really is the day you made me speechless.”

“I didn’t even have to play the saved your life card. I think I might have finally won him over.”

“So did our Wednesday meeting really get moved up? And is Dad even really in San Diego?”

“No, and yes. But he’s enjoying a Padres game with Cliff McCormack, not chasing down a missing person.”

“Ah, Padres tickets—good bribe. Did you know they almost blew your cover for the sake of a foul ball joke?”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“If he’s in San Diego, why did you need to get me here to the office?”

“C’mon, Veronica. You know you would have been suspicious if anyone had suggested you stay home today, dangerously high temperatures or not. But you weren’t suspicious at all that you might be needed on the job.”

“Got me there.”

“And here. Here, and here.” He tickled her in some rather sensitive places, fetching an outburst of giggles from her. “Also. You had to finish the stuff for that meeting even if it hasn’t really been moved up. Look at your phone. You should have a text from your dad by now.”

Veronica found her shorts where they’d landed during the welcoming festivities, and grabbed her phone out of the pocket. As promised, there was a text from Keith waiting:

_Enjoy your 2 days off. See you early Weds AM to get ready for the mtg. Best to Logan. Love you, Dad._

“It will be our turn to spend some time in San Diego. You can decide whether we see anything outside our hotel room or not.”

“Officially surprised in so many ways. And, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, Detective?”

“I think it’s time we get dressed and get out of here. I think a proper welcome home might take up the rest of the night.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Logan coming back from deployment early and surprising Veronica."
> 
> So much love to disdainfullady. I appreciate your Tumblr and fandom friendship and your awesome writing just SO. MUCH. Sorry I am so late with this gift. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks to my beta ("I'm a copyeditor, dammit!"), who is not a fannish sort and wishes to remain anonymous. I think I traumatized him with the fact that I've now written a fic.
> 
> Standard disclaimers (I don't own anything yadda yadda yadda) apply.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] A Moment's Notice](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3151424) by [rottweilersatemylaptop (silvergrrrl)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvergrrrl/pseuds/rottweilersatemylaptop)




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